I Loved You Once
by toledo girl
Summary: Tony and Angela are both struggling through a rough time when they meet each other. Things start to seem familiar about each other as they talk more and more. They both learn that sometimes, people are just meant to be in your life.
1. Chapter 1

There sat Angela. Early thirties and five months pregnant, sitting on the sidewalk in a city that she was unfamiliar to her on a fall evening. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. Her coat was loosely pulled over her nightgown. The glazed over eyes stared straight forward as she thought about what had just happened. She couldn't believe it. Michael, her husband, had just abandoned her and their unborn child. Just left her right in the middle of the city where he had taken her. She had no idea where he was going, but it didn't seem important to her anymore. He was gone.

She was scared, nervous, cold, tired, and quite frankly, just desperate. All her emotions though, she kept to herself. This was not the area where she wanted to look her most vulnerable. Then again, how could she not? Just the way she was dressed told everyone that she had ran away from something and that she had no where to go. Great.

Although it had felt as though she had been sitting for hours, she reminded herself that Michael had only left her moments ago. No matter the time though, it still all seemed like some nightmare to her. The last forty eight hours had been completely horrific. All she had wanted to do was to somehow get home.

It was time to stand up and take some sort of action, anything to get herself closer to home. As soon as a young man carrying a little girl had passed her, she stood up and sighed. It was going to be miserable, but she figured that if she were going to get anywhere that she was going to have to walk most of the way. It took her a moment, but she decided to follow the direction that the man and child were going in. It somewhat seemed like the direction that she had earlier come from, if she were remembering right.

Trying to guess on which direction to walk in, she just blankly stared. This was something that she had never had to do before, and now was definitely the time to learn, if she could. If she didn't, there was no telling where she would end up. The most that she knew was if she got to New York City, that she could get to the train that she took to work everyday, but what ever direction that was in, she had no idea. So far, she had not seen any signs, which was honestly starting to make her more and more nervous.

"Daddy!" a little girl wailed.

Angela was brought back into reality as soon as she heard the little girl start to whimper. A couple of feet ahead, she could see a red ribbon on the sidewalk, one that she could remember seeing on the little girl as the man had walked past her. She went over and picked up the ribbon and walked over to the man who was trying to figure out what the girl was fussing over. "Excuse me, is this what you lost?" Angela asked standing beside the man as she held out the ribbon to the girl.

The little brown haired girl squealed in delight as soon as she saw the ribbon. As quickly as she could, she leaned over and grabbed it which caused Angela to laugh.

The man turned with a warm smile to thank her, but that quickly faded as soon as he saw the woman. She had a black eye. His first thought was that she was abused. "Ma'am, are you alright?" he implored. His eyes remaining on the injury.

Angela just nodded. "I'm fine," she answered as she forced a smile. Receiving a disbelieving look, she felt the need to reassure. "Really."

He could see that he was making her uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," he replied. He was about to go on and give the woman an explanation, but was stopped.

Angela put her hand up, "trust me, I understand. The eye right?" she casually questioned.

He slightly shrugged. "Well, yeah, that and the outfit, but I guess if there's a way of showing off that you have silk pajamas, there it is." The man softly laughed as he motioned to the part of the nightgown that was showing under the coat.

Angela laughed. "Don't worry. The black eye if from walking into the door because my stupid husband turned the light off and then the outfit is because he got called to go away and he had leave right away and I wanted to see him off," she explained. She hated lying to people, but no one, especially a stranger, really needed to know. It wasn't their problem to deal with, it was her's and only her's.

He didn't fully believe it. The eye part, well, he had done that himself. The part explaining the outfit? No. There was still that lingering thought that had told him that she had been abused. Instead of letting her know that though, he laughed. "I've done that with the eye." There was a small silence after she had softly laughed. "Hey, one good deed deserves another," casually mentioning the ribbon. "You need anything?" he offered. It was the only way that he could think to bring up asking her if she needed help or something without making things to obvious.

"Actually," she hesitantly started. She was starting to think that she might as well get some small help to get her home quicker. "You think you could tell me the quickest way to get to Fairfield Connecticut from here?"

"Well," he started. "I've never been there, but I have a road map in my apartment if you want," he offered.

Angela let out a small sigh of relief. "That would be wonderful. Thank you very much," she said, but stopped as soon as she realized that he hadn't introduced himself yet.

"Tony," he informed her. "I would shake your hand, but uh," he motioned his head towards his daughter. "I got my hands full with Samantha here."

"It's okay," Angela assured him. "I'm Angela by the way."

Tony smiled to her. "Nice to meet you." Although, he had really wished it were under different circumstances.

Almost silently, the three walked to his apartment building. Angela was just relieved to be able to figured out a way back home with out so much guess work. After everything that had been going on lately, she wasn't so sure that she was thinking all that clearly to begin with, and adding that to the sleep depravation, she was pretty much lost.

"We're not getting too far from where your car is are we?" Tony inquired as they turned the corner. Right now, he didn't think it was such a good idea to have her out wondering the streets by herself. If they were getting too far, he would have offered to drive her bak to where they started.

Angela just shook her head. "Its fine," she lied. The last thing that she wanted was more questions. The eye was the only mark that she wasn't able to cover. As she walked, she could still feel her nightgown sticking to the blood on her back, right below her right shoulder. One thing she was glad about though, the baby was not hurt. That was the one biggest thing that she was grateful for. Most of the injuries were to her shoulders, upper back and a few on her chest. As soon as she got to the apartment, she was going to ask to go to the bathroom to try and see exactly what had been done to her.

"Okay, here we are," Tony announced as he lead her up the steps to the front entrance.

Angela studied the place as they made their way up to his apartment. The inside, so far wasn't all that bad. It wasn't what Angela was used to, but it was better than she had thought it would be. They walked over to the elevator and got up to his floor. Tony's room was the last down the hall, where he opened the door for Angela and allowed her to go in.

Angela stepped in and looked around. The place was kept up, for what was there. It all seemed a little run down, but she was not about to complain about that.

"I'm sorry about the place, I've been busy the past few days," Tony said. He could tell just by the looks of her, the clothes that she was wearing, that she was a bit used to a fancier life style.

Angela just laughed. "I understand. My housekeeper quit a while ago," she stated without even thinking about where she was at the moment.

"Whoa, a housekeeper," he teased, impressed at her wealth. That was something that people rarely ever heard of where he lived, in Brooklyn.

Angela turned to him, instantly embarrassed at her last remark. "Well, with both Michael and I working," she started to quickly explain. Even though, after she started, she felt that it really didn't help anything.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Tony said. Tony had discovered that Samantha had fallen asleep and gently set her down on the couch. "Here, I'll go grab you the map. Meanwhile, make yourself at home," he instructed.

"Do you mind if I use the bathroom?" Angela implored. She was somewhat anxious to see how bad the damage was so that she could at least try and clean herself up a little.

"Sure, down the hall and to the right," he motioned to towards the small hallway.

"Thank you," Angela said. She turned and walked the short distance. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she stood before the mirror. Cautiously, she slid off her coat, revealing blue and purple bruises covering her chest and shoulders. Reaching back while she slightly turned to see her back in the mirror, she carefully pulled the cloth off of the wound. The dried blood stained her back, but the deep red seemed to blend in with the bruising. The cut which had just started to feel better was now stinging as it began to bleed again from the removal of some of the scab. Instead of letting the blood dry to the nightgown again, she took some tissue and lightly wet it, then used it to wipe the blood away. While the water was running, she decided to rinse her face off. After she was done cleaning her wounds, she turned off the water and stepped back and looked at herself in the mirror. How did this happen? How could she have gone from strong, successful business woman, mother to be, happily married woman to bruised up, bloodied, lost, scared, and husbandless in one day? Well, the happily married part was a stretch, but the rest was still there.

What bothered her deeply was that she had let this happen. Everything that Michael was able to get away with within the last couple of weeks was because she was weak, and this was where it had gotten her. Worse yet, if this stranger could tell, she knew that when she walked into work, which she hoped could be tomorrow since her boss wasn't too thrilled about her taking off today, that people would know. They wouldn't come right out and ask, but they would know. Scattered whispers amongst themselves. Pitiful looks. Random gestures that had never been considered before. All the things that would make her feel defenseless, pitiful, pathetic. Even so, was that so much worse than what had all just happened? Did her wounded pride really compare to her current situation? "It won't come down to this," she whispered to herself as she put her coat back on over her night gown.

Out in the small living room, Tony sat down on the couch next to Samantha who had just woken up and was now coloring. He had the map opened up before him. As he looked over the roads that lead to Connecticut, Angela's words kept going through his head. It didn't make sense to him. She was trying to hide something, something dangerous.

"Daddy?" Sam called over to him. Her deep brown eyes, her mother's eyes looking to him.

"Yes?" he responded, turning his attention from the map to the little girl.

Angela was about to walk out into the living room area, but overheard the two talking and decided to wait a minute.

"Why doesn't mommy want to come home?" Sam questioned.

Tony's expression softened. This was not the first time that he had heard the question Marie, his wife, had been dead for about a week now. Samantha, getting ready to turn five, was not able to understand the concept. Sighing, he leaned forward. "Sam, honey, your mom didn't want to leave." There was no way for him to really explain this to her, but he knew he had to say something. "Remember when she was sick? How she told you that one day she might leave and not come back? That she would fall asleep and stay asleep?"

Samantha just nodded. For a young kid, she seemed to have a distant look to her. "Why can't she wake up and come back?" she implored, her expression steadily growing sadder.

Angela brought her hand to her mouth. It brought back some of the memories from when her father died, the only difference being, that she knew what was going on, and she knew that it was going to happen. Looking up, she could see that Tony was uncomfortable and finally decided to walk out and join the two, careful to cover up that she had heard any of the conversation.

Tony looked up as she walked over. This was his chance to change the subject. "Here," he said laying the map down flat on the table.

Angela sat down and followed where his finger pointed down on the page. All the roads and everything seemed so easy now. The only problem was that it made it seem like a long walk. Although, now that she knew where she was going, she could catch a bus. "You don't know how much you've just helped out tonight," she informed him.

"Anytime," he replied, closing the map. "Need anything else?" He looked up to her with genuine concern.

"No, I've already put you through enough trouble," she reassured.

Tony laughed. "Not at all," he said. Really, he liked having someone there. The apartment had seemed lonely for the past week. It didn't help that the only visitors that he had had were there to give him sympathy and ask how he was doing. Knowing that it was all in just trying to help, he didn't say anything, but all it really was to him was a painful reminder.

Samantha just sat there and watched the two. Never was she known to have spoken in front of someone unless she knew them somewhat well. As shy as she was to new people though, there was something that she wanted badly to ask this woman. "Did you get in a fight?" she asked.

Tony looked over, hoping that she hadn't upset Angela. "She already told us that she walked into a door."

"But when Randy told you that, you called him a liar, then asked who gotted him, then called him a wimp," Sam explained.

Something hit Angela, right then and there. She was a wimp, she let it happen. Desperately trying to cover up the emotions that Sam had just stirred up within her, she softly laughed. Tony was about to say something, more or less on the lines of scolding her. "I think this is a little different," she lied.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, her little face scrunched up in confusion.

Tony smiled back to Angela and then looked back to Sam. "I don't think she looks like the fighting type." The darkened night sky through the window caught his attention. "Speaking of which," he turned back to face Angela. "I don't think you should be out there alone after dark. I'm gonna go ahead and walk you to your car."

"I think I can manage getting to my car," Angela quickly stated. The last thing she wanted was for him to find out that she didn't have a car. The only thing that would come of it would be more pity, something that she refused to accept.

"Ay oh oh ay, from what I heard today, you ain't used to this place. I just think that you should at least have one eye that's left uninjured," Tony told her. Deep down, he really did feel bad for her. There was something that was telling him that he shouldn't even allow her to go back home, but he knew that wasn't his place. This was the least he could, and he wanted to do it.

He wasn't about to give up. She knew that he wasn't about to. If she really did have a car, she would have been grateful, but right now she was just annoyed. Why did he care so much anyways? It wasn't like they had even met before, well, she was pretty sure that they hadn't met before. Something about him seemed vaguely familiar to her, but that was beside the point. "Look, before this goes any further, I really think I should tell you something," she started. If he was going to find out more about her situation, this was going to be the time. "I don't have a car with me. My husband took it. I told him that I would be able to get a ride back so that he wouldn't worry about me. Now that I know the streets a little bit and where I'm going I'm pretty sure that I could take a bus or find some other way back home," she confessed.

Tony sat there and stared for a brief second. "How did you really get here?" The question slipped without him even thinking about it. His eyes desperately searched hers for something other than the phony happiness that she had shown earlier.

Angela locked her eyes with his. Bringing herself out of the trance like stare, she shook her head. "Look, you really are a nice person, but I barely even know you. I highly doubt that you really need to be concerned with any of my problems."

Tony sighed. "Maybe I am just a stranger, but that doesn't mean that I feel right letting someone go back into a dangerous situation." He might have just over stepped a few boundaries, but it didn't matter anymore. There was no way that he could just let her go off out there unsure of where she was going. Even though he didn't know her, he would have felt extremely bad if he ever found out that something had happened to her because he let her go.

Angela saw a true sincerity in his eyes, something that she had not seen from Michael in a long time. Sighing, she thought through what to tell him, and what to keep to herself. "You're right," she admitted. At the moment, she wasn't quite sure what drove her to the small confession. It could have been the sincere caring that she had been longing for for so long in her damaged marriage, or it could have been the fact that she was completely exhausted. "It was my husband who did this, but he's gone. He took the car and left me and he's not coming back. I have nothing to worry about." That too, was a lie, but not as big as she had been telling him. She really had no idea whether or not he was going to be coming back. There was also the fact that she had so much more to worry about. The baby, whether or not she would get mixed into what her husband had been doing, whether or not he would come back. "All I want to do now is to go home, go to sleep and try to forget about today."

Tony sympathetically looked to her. "Can I at least get you to a train station or something like that?" he offered, feeling that it was the least that he could do for her.

"I'd appreciate that," she gave in to his offers. She had decided that she was done with turning down offers. He really was a nice man, and he was just trying to make things easier on her. "I have some money for a train ticket if that's close by," she told him.

Tony politely nodded as he offered her a small smile. He then turned to Sam. "How do you feel about going over to Mrs. Rossini's?" he asked.

"Okay," Sam answered as she stood up. She quickly grabbed her coloring book and teddy bear, which Angela now noticed had the ribbon on it, as she headed for the door. It was almost as if she had gotten used to having to go to someone else's place. "Ready!" she called out.

"Alright, lets go," Tony stated, heading towards the door. "Mrs. Rossini is only across the hall," he explained to Angela as he turned to face her for a second before leaving.

As the door closed, Angela leaned back into the chair. Just wanting to make sure that everything was alright, she unzipped her coat and placed her hand on her belly. As soon as she felt the baby kick, she let out a sigh of relief and then zipped her coat back up.

Tony poked his head back into the apartment. "You ready?" he questioned.

Angela lifted her head back up and looked to him. "Yeah," she flatly replied and then stood up. The idea of going home was the best idea that she had thought about all day. As she walked over to the door, she grabbed the map. Right before leaving the room, she stopped before Tony. "If there's ever anything I could do to repay you," she started, but Tony cut her off.

"Ay, don't worry about it," Tony said. In reality, he was just glad to have something to focus on other than Marie. Everyone had told him that it would get easier as the days went on, but really, he just missed her more and more every passing day. The reason that his place was a little messy was because he was afraid to change it. Marie's clothes were still in the hamper, Marie's dishes still in the sink, her make up and brush still in the bathroom, her shoes still at the front door, and her coat tossed over the side of the bedrail in the bedroom that they once shared. Everything was still in its place from the night that she had died, and he couldn't bare to change it. Tony waited for her to walk completely out of the room and then closed the door behind her.

"Are you sure?" Angela implored as she turned back to him. If she couldn't get herself home, the second best would be to be able to return the favor. The last thing she wanted was to take advantage of someone.

Tony walked up beside her and sighed. "You already have," he answered and then walked up ahead of her.

Angela stopped for a brief moment as she thought about what he had said. She had done nothing but take up his time. Either way, she dismissed the confusion and caught up to him. Why bother with it now?

The two walked out together, and she followed him to the old blue van that was parked out in the street. "Bet you don't see too many of these where you live," he mentioned as he walked around and climbed into the drivers seat.

Angela just laughed. "No you don't," she responded as she climbed into the passenger side. Tony leaned over and grabbed her hand to help her in, and she accepted the gesture.

Once they were both settled, they took off in the van towards the train station. Each of them sat there in silence, each of them had questions for each other. Neither of them wanted to talk though. Once a question was answered, it opened the right for the other person to receive an answer, and both were too proud to say anything that would bring pity upon themselves.

Angela finally grew tired of the silence. "You're daughter is adorable," she mentioned as she smiled over at Tony.

Tony smiled at the comment. "Yeah," he said more as if he were reminiscing. "Looks just like her mother." He loved hearing compliments about Samantha, but he wasn't sure if he was really ready for the memories of Marie. It wasn't like he didn't think about her a lot, it was just that he wasn't sure that he wanted his attention brought to the subject. "You have any kids?" he asked bringing himself back.

Angela's head quickly jilted up. Should she tell him? The only problem she had with telling him about her pregnancy was that she didn't know whether or not it would just bring on more concern from him. She convinced herself that it didn't matter. She already looked bad and she was getting home. "Actually," she said as she smiled down towards her stomach. Instead of telling him, she undid the bottom part of her coat and revealed her small, but noticeable bump.

Tony looked over. "Well, well," he said. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Angela said. For some reason, she was really starting to feel comfortable around him. It wasn't completely out there, he was a nice guy, it was just kind of early for any sort of trust.

"I remember how excited Marie was when she found out that she was pregnant," Tony stated. Now he was really starting to go down memory lane. "She ran down to a bachelor party that the guys from the team were throwing and I ended up getting up on the table and telling everyone. I took her home, cooked dinner for her. We didn't have much money, so I couldn't afford to take her out or anything like that."

"That's sweet though," Angela replied as she thought back on how Michael reacted when she told him. He seemed a little excited for a few minutes. It did seem fake though.

Tony looked over and saw her eyes lower down. The look itself showed that she was disappointed. An obvious reason for this might be the situation that she was currently in, but he wasn't about to ask about it. She had already been through enough that night, from what he could see. "Here we are," he announced, pulling up to the train station.

Angela smiled over. "I can never thank you enough for this," she said, opening the door.

"Just take care of yourself. Alright?"

Tony watched her smile back and then walk off to get her ticket. There was something that he had just now noticed, a slight limp that she had to her walk. Of course though, she was gone. In the back of his head, he had doubted that he would ever see her again. Even though that was really no reason for him to stop caring, it was enough to let him know that what ever happened to her was really out of his own control.

She must've been gone about ten minutes before he even started the van back up. Through out the entire ten minutes, he had been fighting the urge to go in and make sure that she got her ticket and that she got onto the train alright. But again, this was someone that he didn't even know. He had to let her go back home. Go back to her life.

When Tony finally got home, he slowly walked into the dark, empty apartment. There was no use in going to get Samantha. She needed a good night sleep, and waking her up would completely ruin that. He closed the door behind him, not even bothering to turn a single light on. Why try to see what's there when all it will do is remind you of what's not?

He was able to make it to his bedroom. He dressed for bed and then laid down on the mattress. The lonely mattress. As he tried to sleep, he realized that he still laid his arm out over Marie's side of the bed. It used to be a habit of his to put his arm around her when they would go to sleep. Now he often had to place a cold pillow there in place of her warm body.

Angela returned back to her empty house that night. She went straight up to her bedroom, threw her coat onto the floor and laid down under the covers. She was alone. Not in the sense that there was no one there, but in the fact that no one really cared. The way that she had felt tonight was no different from the way that she had felt when Michael was there laying next to her.

When she had told Michael he got a call to go down to Brazil to do a documentary, he was so excited that he had to tell everyone. He went out and celebrated. He took her out to dinner. When she had told him she was pregnant, he hugged her, kissed her, smiled. Nothing special.

When she announced it to some of the women that she worked with, one of the things they started to talk about was how annoying it was to not be able to do anything. That other people, their husbands in particular would step in and tell them to take it easy. She herself was independent, and very proud of that, but it would have been nice if Michael would have stepped in at least once. She was expecting him to, and when he didn't, she felt ignored, forgotten.

As she allowed the tears to fall, she slowly fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Angela woke up to no Michael, which actually made her relieved. There was no nervousness about what was going to happen that day. All she had to do was go to work and then come back home. It was better this way.

Angela's luck was broken though right before lunch time. She was sitting in a meeting, trying to come up with ideas for a commercial to shoot. The day was stressful enough since they need this commercial to be written by five o'clock today.

"Mrs. Bower?" a young lady called out as she poked her head into a conference room.

"Yes?" Angela responded as she quickly looked up.

"You've got a call waiting for you on line three. Its Mr. Bower, he says its urgent," she explained.

Angela sighed. She didn't need this were the only words that she needed to hear to know that this was about to be another bad day. Standing up, she rushed to the door. "Excuse me one moment," she said to the others right before she closed the door behind her. She got out to the hall and placed her hands on her hips. Although she did not like sharing much of her private life at work, this was one of those times were it was necessary. "Now Danielle," she firmly started.

'Yes?" she asked. Danielle was an intern there. Any communication between her and the higher paid employees was awkward to her. Angela was not yet president or anything like that yet, but she was one of the more important people there and well on her way to being the president.

Angela sighed and grabbed the young girl's shoulders. "I need you to keep this between us, okay?" she nearly begged. The mere thought of this information getting out to everyone else scared her. She got enough of this at home, she didn't need to be hearing about it all day at work.

Danielle's ice blue eyes widened as she nodded. Now, she knew just how important this was, and really, was never trusted with anything that important yet.

Angela softly smiled to her before going on with the rest of what she had to say, just to let her know that she trusted her. "Now, my husband, he has been getting into some trouble lately alright? Right now all I need you to do is find out where he is at and how much he needs. Tell him I'll be there as soon as possible and then come back and tell me."

"Yes ma'am," Danielle responded and then walked off to go gather the information that she needed.

Angela watched her for a moment and then walked back into the room. "Sorry about that. My family is having some private issues at the moment," she explained as she walked around the table, over to her spot.

Mr. Harralson huffed at her, letting her know that he would not put up with much right now. "Mrs. Bower, please try and keep your personal business at home," he warned. The stern older man was put in charge of the group, and he wanted nothing more than to just get this over with.

"I'm sorry sir," she apologized as she sat down at her seat. She was embarrassed, but she had bigger problems at the moment. The minute that Danielle came back, she knew that she would be given a jail somewhere and the amount of bail money he needed. She couldn't believe that she has let this all go this far. This morning, with every question that she had received about her eye, she thought back to yesterday and it's horrible events.

Danielle knocked on the door and then opened it a small crack. She didn't even have to say anything before Angela stood up and went over to meet her outside. This time she didn't even bother with excusing herself. "What is it?" she implored after closing the door behind her. She was nervous, but she hid it well enough.

Danielle handed her a folded up note. "He said he was arrested in Brooklyn for getting into an accident while he was high. He didn't even tell me about the money. He just said to get there as soon as you can. He also needs the number to your lawyer," she explained.

Angela looked down and closed her eyes for a moment as she pinched the top of her nose between her eyes. "Oh God, Michael," she murmured to herself. Sighing, she looked back up to Danielle. "Did he tell how much damage there was?"

"No ma'am," Danielle answered, shaking her head.

"Okay. Thank you Danielle," Angela responded as she turned to open the door back up.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Danielle questioned. In a way, she was enjoying this. She was actually doing real work for the first time.

"No, thank you," Angela said forcing a smile to her. She then went back into the conference room.

oooo

Tony walked into the apartment with Sam holding onto his hand as they entered. "So?" Tony asked, trying to get a conversation started. He had noticed that his daughter had been a little more quiet than usual.

"So, what?" Sam inquired, smiling up at Tony. The little girl was waiting to hear about a surprise, or something along the same line.

"So, tell me!" Tony ordered, laughing. "How was your day?" he implored.

"Well," Sam started as she followed him to the kitchen. "I colored you a pitcher," she announced before handing him the picture that she had been holding onto all day.

Laughing at her mispronunciation, he took the picture and looked it over. To him, it just looked like a bunch of crayon scribbles, but he wasn't about to tell her that. He tried to use his imagination to try and attempt to guess what she was going for.

"Its a kitty cat daddy!" she happily squealed, not able to wait for him to respond anymore.

"The best kitty cat I ever saw!" he enthusiastically announced and then smiled down to her. The excited little girl followed him as he went and hung it up on the fridge. "There," he said sticking the magnet on it. "So everyone can see it."

"You're welcomes," she responded, standing there admiring her own work before her.

Tony just smiled as she walked off over to the living room. She was a lot like her mother, and becoming more and more like her everyday. She was all he truly had left, and he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

It was getting close to lunch time, so Tony turned and opened the fridge. Empty. "Hey Sam! I gotta go to the market. Wanna come with me or stay with Mrs. Rossini?" he called out to her.

"You!" she replied as she jumped up and went and got her coat.

They got ready and left the small apartment. It was good for both of them to get out. As bad as it sounded to himself, life went on. That didn't show too much within the apartment, but out here it did, and it helped him. This was what normal life was supposed to be, him holding his daughter's hand as they walked to the store. Marie should be there, but she wasn't, and he was going to have to actually start dealing with that. Not just for his own self, but for Sam. She was young and didn't understand what was going on, the last thing she needed was to have her dad constantly dwelling on a memory while she was growing up and moving on.

The two were just about to get to the end of the street. Tony could see the market from where they were at right now. "Any requests for lunch and dinner?" he questioned.

"Basgetti," Sam answered.

Tony laughed. "Spaghetti," he corrected her, although he was pretty sure that she wasn't even paying attention.

"Michael!"

Tony stopped at the sound of the familiar voice. He could tell where it was coming and decided that he had better go see what was happening. Anxiously, he turned to Sam. "Could ya stay here a minute?" he requested.

Sam was about to say something smart, but received the look that told her not to test him. Instead, she simply nodded and then leaned against the building.

"Good girl," Tony said and then stepped over in front of the alley way. It was Angela. The one that he was sure he would never see again, but there she was, shoved against a wall, a knife to her throat. Another man stood there against the opposite wall from Angela.


	3. Chapter 3

"Michael how dare you!" she yelled as tears streamed down her cheeks. With the things that were going on, and the anger that she had felt towards her husband at the moment, it was easy to momentarily ignore the knife against her skin, and focus on the jerk before her. This was it. The final straw. Every time that she had told herself that Michael loved her, every time that she told herself that she wasn't alone, it was all a huge lie to herself, and this easily proved that.

"I needed the money!" Michael cried out to her in response. He looked as if he had been up all night, and like he himself had taken a few beatings.

"Hey! Get away from her!" Tony called out as he approached the man with the knife. He was nervous, but he kept his head up and a steady pace. As long as he looked confident, he felt a little better.

Angela looked over to Tony and followed him with her eyes. The same man from last night. It wasn't too hard to believe since she was in the same area that she had been in last night. She wasn't about to question it either, she needed help and here he was, more than she could say for Michael.

The man kept his hand near her throat as he slightly turned to face Tony. "Yeah? And what if I don't?" he casually questioned.

"Then I'll…" he started, but stopped once he could see that the knife was getting closer and closer to breaking Angela's skin. "Ay oh, just wait a second there."

The man ignored him and went ahead to puncture her skin.

Tony started to panic as he saw the blood begin to trickle down her neck. "Wait!" he pleaded and then looked down to the watch that he was wearing. It wasn't too fancy, but it had to have been a little expensive, it was given to him as a Christmas present. "Take this," he instructed as he started to remove the watch from his wrist. He held it out for the man to see. "It should cover what ever you need."

The man drew back the knife and accepted the gold watch. "Alright," he replied and then looked over at Michael. "Look's like you're good this time."

Michael stood there and watched as the man left. He knew that it would most likely be unsuccessful, but he had to try to it. "Angela," he started as he cautiously began to approach her.

"No Michael," she she firmly ordered, putting her hand up. "Don't! There's no excuse and I don't intend to sit here and listen to you for another minute! Next time you need someone, try lying to someone else!" she sharply explained.

"What?" Michael implored. "You would just leave me out here?"

"As long as you're not in my house, I don't give a damn about your whereabouts," Angela calmly and coldly stated.

Michael looked down and sighed. He wanted to say so many things to her, but really, he knew it wouldn't matter. He went too far this time. So instead of talking, he just walked away, leaving Tony and Angela there alone.

Angela slid down to the ground. Even with all her might, she couldn't hold it together anymore. Everything that she had been holding in since that man pulled out a knife, the fear, anxiety, anger, and hurt, she had to just take a moment. "Thank you," she shakily stated, tears falling from her eyes as she stared straight forward.

"Yeah," he absently responded. "Hold on a sec there," he stated as he turned back to go get Sam. As much as he cared about what was going on here, he hated leaving Sam alone for too long. Without any words, he grabbed her little hand and lead her back to where Angela was sitting.

"Daddy, she's got a cut," Sam announced upon seeing the blood on Angela's neck.

"I know honey," he replied, eyeing the blood on Angela's neck.

Tony stepped over to her and extended his hand out her and helped her up. "Let's get you cleaned up," he offered.

Angela nodded. "Okay," she replied as she wiped the tears from her face. She followed Tony and Sam as they started to leave the alley. "Shouldn't we be calling the cops?" she implored.

Tony stopped and looked over to her. "Hey listen, the last thing I need is a bunch of angry drug dealers coming after me," he explained.

Angela crossed her arms, her eyes wondering down towards the ground. "Yeah," she whispered.

"Besides, you yourself must have a pretty good reason for not calling the cops yet," Tony stated and then started walking again.

Angela just looked up to him and watched him for a brief moment before she went ahead and caught up to the two.

Angela was now at her most vulnerable. Everything had gone wrong for her, and she couldn't control her emotions anymore. Everything had built up to this point, and this right now was her breaking point. Michael had just basically told her that her life was worthless. He was about to just give up her and the baby. Through out her life, she had learned to deal with loneliness, teasing, rejection. When she knew that someone didn't like her, she was fine with that. It was plain and simple common sense that not everyone was going to like you, but being lead on to think that someone loves you, that's different. Just to know that she had placed her trust in that man a few years ago made her sick to her stomach.

Tony opened the door to the apartment. For the second time, Angela stepped in there and looked around the place. She waited while Sam and Tony put their coats away.

"Why don't you take a seat somewhere. I'll be right back," Tony said. There was some disappointment in his voice that Angela could sense. It was the same disappointment that she had had in herself since Michael had returned back from his last business trip.

Angela went and sat down on the couch. Even to the man that she had only met once, this was embarrassing. Her mother had warned her of how things would get out of her control, and here she was, living it. Leaning forward, she rested her head in her hands.

Sam, who was still over by the door, took off her shoes and watched the woman for a moment. She looked the same way that her mother had when she had found out that she was sick, and how her father had acted the night her mother died. "What's wrong?" she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. She had gotten used to hearing something bad every time that she asked that question.

Angela slowly lifted her head from her hands and offered a small smile. "Nothing," she answered, shaking her head.

Sam didn't believe her, but she didn't care to hear what was going on. Instead, she went over, climbed up on the couch and hugged Angela. It seemed like the right action, that's what people did when her mommy was sick, and then when she fell asleep.

Angela's eyes widened in surprise as she softly laughed. "Thanks," she said. With interest, she just watched the little girl pull away and go off to her bedroom. Going back to face forward, she sat up and stared into space. Without really noticing it, she placed her hand on her belly and held her breath. It was as soon as she felt the baby kick that she realized it, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Here we are. A wet wash clothe, some disinfectant ointment, and a bandage," Tony announced upon entering the room. He went over and sat down on Angela's right side so that he could get at the cut easier.

"Thanks," she absentmindedly responded. Pulling her hair back for him, she started to wonder what he was going to ask her this time, and what she could tell him. There was no lie out there that would make this look any better. That's why she had to prepare herself for what she was about to say. She was done with putting up walls and covering up for her husband.

"Geeze Angela, you sure do bleed a lot," he mentioned as he started to wipe away the blood.

"Sorry," she replied, still blankly staring forward.

"Ay, its better than being killed," he stated. This woman was really starting to interest him. There was something about her that made him want to tell her that everything would be alright. He felt as if he had once scene her genuinely smile, and that it was nice. Part of him kept wanting to go back to that, while part of him had no idea what he was thinking about.

"Alright," he said coming back to reality as he finished cleaning the blood off. "This may sting a little," he warned.

Angela turned and smiled to him. "I'm not a little girl you know," she informed him.

That was getting closer to the smile that he had remembered for some reason. The only problem with this smile was that there was a darkness behind it, a lingering sadness. Loneliness. "Well sorry madam," he teased. Angela faced forward again. As he put the ointment on her cut, she winced. He stifled his laughter as he put the bandage on her.

"What?" she asked slightly glaring to him. "I didn't see anyone here kicking and screaming."

"Whoa," Tony said putting his hands up in defeat. "My deepest apologies."

Angela smiled to him. "That's more like it."

"Now would you like a lollipop for being so good?"

Angela just laughed as she stood up. "Watch it," she said and then walked over towards the door. The room fell silent. She could feel his eyes on her. Folding her arms, she slightly turned and looked to him over her shoulder with solemn eyes. What hurt at the moment as she looked into his deep brown eyes, was the fact that a stranger had to save her from the danger that her husband put her into. "You saved my life back there." She stopped for a second and completely turned to face him as she looked down. "Thank you," she said looking back up.

"Well, I couldn't just let someone get killed," Tony explained, feeling concerned for her, waiting for her to fall apart again. He could see it in her eyes that there was something she wanted to tell him, but wouldn't.

"Right," Angela replied.

Tony sat there facing her, seeing how fragile and vulnerable she really was at the moment. There was something that she wasn't telling him, something that hurt her. "Ya never walked into a door did ya." It was meant to be more of a question, but came out as more of a statement to himself.

"No," Angela answered and then walked over and sat down on the chair closest to the door. "That man back there, Michael?" She paused a second to try and hold back the tears that were coming. "He's my husband," she announced, starting to cry. The shame was evident as she looked down to cover her face. "While he was gone on one of his trips, he got into some cocaine, and he can't stop. Last night he brought me with him to bail him out if he got arrested, but after one of the men started to beat me, he dropped me off and went on with them." She had to stop again to gather herself before going on to the next part. "Today, he called in at work and told Danielle, one of the interns, that he needed bail money, but I didn't know if he was worth it, so I left everything of any worth at home and came to see. I hoped that maybe jail would teach him a lesson, but instead he set me up and did nothing to help me," she explained finally letting loose her emotions. Everything had been told, why hold back the emotions? Besides, when all you know is one emotion anymore, it becomes harder and harder to act another.

Tony just sat there and watched for a minute. "Drugs do that to people, I don't think he would've done that if," he was cut off as Angela looked back up.

"When I told him I was pregnant, all he did was kiss me. None of his friends knew until I told their wives and they told them. He wasn't excited at all. He had given up on me before any of this had happened," she told him through her tears.

Tony knew how it felt to slowly lose someone. He had sat there and watched his wife slowly die before him. The difference though, was that Marie didn't want to leave, where Michael blatantly chose to. "I'm sorry," was all he could say.

"You know," Angela started. "Last night I heard about you, your wife, your daughter, and it all sounded so perfect. That was how Michael and I started, but it was nearly the way you described your life." Looking up, she saw Tony's face begin to fall. His wife, she had forgotten. "I just wondered how I could've married him when all the signs were pointing to failure." She had hoped that the last sentence had gotten him back from his memories.

"Actually, Marie, she died not too long ago," Tony announced.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

"You're right though, it was perfect before she left." Tony looked up. "That little girl in there is the only reason I didn't shut down for last few weeks."

"I don't know whether this is a good thing or not, but at least she's young enough to not fully understand it. I know I was older when my father died, and all I wanted to do was run away," Angela informed him.

"I don't know. I did something stupid and brought her to the funeral. She tried to wake Marie up. I think it hurt her more when she wouldn't." Tony's eyes started to water.

(_Tony held Sam's hand as he walked up the aisle of the church to the open casket to lay a rose down on his wife. Sam got up on her tiptoes and laid her flower down. "Mommy?" she asked as he face lit up._

_As soon as there was no answer, the little girl's face dropped and her lip started to quiver. "Mommy? Mommy!"_

_Tony quickly picked up the little girl and brought her outside of the church._)

"I had to carry her out of there crying that her mom wouldn't answer her," Tony explained, wishing that he had never even thought to take her.

Angela just sat there. She could never imagine seeing something like that. It broke her heart. "I don't think that I could sit through that," she admitted.

The room fell uncomfortably silent. Angela sat there as her thoughts wondered back to when she and Michael were first married. To how he actually cared for her. To a time where she didn't feel lonely every night.

Tony sat there and stared at his wife's shoes that were still at the door. "I just kinda wonder what has to be done to get over someone. Every where I look in here, I see her," he stated.

"You move," Angela answered all to bluntly.

Tony looked up to her. "Is that what you did when your father died?" he inquired.

Angela sat there and slowly looked to him. "No, but it makes sense, doesn't it?" There was one thing that that she was never going to talk about with anyone, ever. Even if she didn't like talking about it, she somehow felt that she had to at least go on further with it. "That's what you do when you lose everything, why not do it when you lose a big part of your life?"

Tony just sat there and stared to her. "Look, I know you have money and that you're able to do that, but I can't just drop everything and move," he explained and then sat back and sighed. That was when her words had hit him, when you lose everything. "Besides, you have to lose an awful lot to lose everything, and with Samantha here, and my friends, I haven't gotten to losing everything." He knew that there must have been a time where she had lost more than her husband and her father, but he wasn't about to ask.

Angela sat there and smiled to him. "You sure are strong."

"Only cus I have to be," he responded.

Angela just stood back up. "I really should get going."

"And we were having so much fun," Tony said trying to joke, but failing at it.

Angela looked around for a piece of paper and then grabbed a pen off the table. She wrote down her name and number and then handed it to Tony. "If you ever need anything, just call," she told him.

Tony saw the true sincerity in her eyes and accepted the paper. "Thanks, and by now, you know where I live if you ever…" Angela held her hand up and stopped him.

"You've really done enough for me. I just want to be able to do something for you now," she informed him. Without another word, she walked out of the apartment.

Tony stood there and looked down at the piece of paper. The one who needed saving wanted to do something for him. It wasn't completely right, but he decided that he would use it sometime to check in on her, just to make sure that she really was doing alright.

oooooo

Angela walked into her empty house. This time instead of her usual routine, she went straight upstairs and into her room. Even though she knew that she shouldn't, she climbed up on a chair and reached to the top of her closet and pulled out a shoebox. It was nothing fancy, but it was enough.

She walked the box over to her bed and sat down with it. Her now shaky hand lifted the lid up and then dumped the photos onto the bed.

All the scattered memories before had all been isolated for so long. One picture was of Mona carrying a little baby girl, another of Angela pregnant and Michael wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Another random one was of Mona, Angela and a little girl with blonde curly hair at her cousin's wedding. She looked a lot like Angela, her eyes, her smile. She had Michael's nose though. To her, she was the most beautiful little girl that she had ever seen. The one that taught her that there were way more important things in life than overachieving and climbing the ladder at work.

There was another one of Michael trying to play patty cake with the same little girl. Through all the photos, there was one that stuck out to her, the final one taken. The little girl looked about four years old as she stood outside in a pink sundress. She stood behind Angela, who was sitting on the ground, with her arms around her neck, and head resting on her shoulder. It was easy to tell by her smile that she had been laughing. She took the picture and stared at it. This picture itself was not everything to her, but what it represented, the memories that it held, those were everything to her.

Without even realizing it, tears had begun to fall down her cheeks. It was hard for her, but she put the picture down on the table beside her. Keeping her eyes focused down on the picture, she clenched her fists. About to punch the bed, she restrained herself and slowly leaned over to lay on her side, then turned her head to bury it into her pillow.

ooooo

Tony sat down on his bed. The dark room seemed so much lonelier in the middle of the night. This was the night that he had to do something. Angela telling him about moving made him think. There was a truth to that, you had to allow the change to occur. His eyes focused onto the coat on the bedrail. He took the hesitation within and suppressed it as he stood up and walked over. His hand clenched onto it. Slowly, he lifted the coat up and studied it. Her perfume still lingering, at least, he thought he could still smell it. He could hear her voice once again, her last words to him. The very words that he always tried to shove out of his memory. Starting to feel his eyes water, he hurried to the closet to hang it up. As fast as he could without slamming it, he closed the door and stood back, It felt weird, but he knew he had to move on. He mentally promised himself that he would clean out the rest of the apartment the next day.

Turning back, he went to his bed and laid back down. Automatically, he grabbed the pillow to hug. After he had realized what he had done, he let go of the pillow and turned to lay on his other side. This again was something that was new for him. Something that suddenly made him feel more lonely than he had ever felt. "Nothing's anymore different now than its been for a week," he mumbled to himself to try and comfort himself.


End file.
